PC Zone Issue 2
This issue was cover dated May 1993 and sold for £3.95. It came with two free floppy disks. Contents PC Zone Issue 2 Contents 1.jpg PC Zone Issue 2 Contents 2.jpg Boot Up! Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist - 2 pages (10-11) Bulletin News articles on the following games *Page 6 - Patriot, V for Victory: Market Garden, Betrayal at Krondor, Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor *Page 7 - International Rugby Challenge, Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle, Eagle Eye Mysteries *Page 8 - Pinball Dreams, Aces Over Europe Blueprint (Previews) Cyberspace - Paul Lakin - 3 pages (13-15) Strike Commander - Duncan MacDonald - 4 pages (16-19) Fields of Glory - Laurence Scotford - 3 pages (74-76) The Patrician - Paul Lakin - 2 pages (78-79) Features Ooh, It's the PC Zone Big Joystick Feature - 4 pages (80-83) :It's important when launching a new magazine to blag as much stuff as possible by running features on different desirable items in your early issues. Last month it was soundcards; this month it's joysticks and next month it will be rent-controlled flats in central London. It's also important to pick someone to do it who's too thick to keep all the best ones for themselves: naturally we plumped for our resident moron, Patrick McCarthy. El-Fish - 2 pages (90-91) :El-Fish is an aquarium simulator. We gave it to Patrick McCarthy and asked him to produce a meandering pile of nonsense that vaguely mentioned fish occasionally. Well, we might just as well have done, anyway. Reviews 'Full Price Games' 'Bargain Bin' Summaries Shadow of the Comet :The puzzles are never so difficult or obscure that the game becomes frustrating, although there is enough of a challenge to prevent it from becoming little more than an interactive cartoon. There's plenty of variety too. At one point you come across a labyrinth, and for a while the game takes on more of role-playing aspect. There are puzzles to be solved involving trigger plates on the floor and placing statues in the right locations, all culminating with a frantic chase back to the outside world. :Finally, if you're thinking that Shadow of the Comet might be bit tame when compared to Infogrames' Lovecraft inspired action game, Alone in the Dark, then be prepared to be corrected. There are many sudden shocks waiting for the unwary in this game too. Although it's not quite the best game of its type as far as the control system and graphical content is concerned. Shadow of the Comet is a real gem that deserves to be played by every fan of graphic adventures. Jordan in Flight :Overall, Jordan In Flight isn't bad. The new graphics system works quite well, and has a lot of potential for other sports games, the digitised sound is as good as digitised sound normally is, and despite the gameplay quirks, it is quite fun and easy to play. But, as I said earlier, there just isn't enough to it. If EA had made Jordan into a full five-on-five whole-court game (ie, proper basketball), given it about 20 to 30 teams with various levels of ability, league and tournament options, a large number of formations, tactics and set plays, and cleared up the 'select the player...' problems, I'd wholeheartedly recommend it as one of the best sports sims around. As it is, I think that they've spent so much time on the new system, the gimmicky (if clever) features and the Jordan license that the actual game was neglected to an extent. Still, if you like basketball, then it'll certainly give you a few hours of enjoyment. Star Wars: X-Wing :It's really very good, and one of the most addictive action games I've played in quite a while. The speed of the dogfighting can be dizzying. Every time I see someone else playing it I want to push them out of the way and take over. Wacky Funsters :The trouble is, if it takes longer to install a game than it does to play and get bored with it, it's not good - and considering the shareware available for less money the fact that it's only intended as 15 minutes of fun still doesn't save it. :When we originally saw the demo of Wacky Funsters it looked great, a genuinely funny piece of software. The problem is that the game never gets beyond that, an enjoyable demo. Space Quest V :SQV is good with a capital okay. There are worse ways of spending forty quid. Leisure Suit Larry V for instance, and it is showing that Sierra is finally heading back in the right direction. Give its interface and animation routines a bit of an overhaul, increase the amount of care spent on getting everything together and before long it'll be up there with LucasArts. I hope it does happen. Sierra used to be one of the best and it doesn't really deserve to be in the stagnant condition it finds itself in at the moment with only Dynamix titles providing the punters with any interest. Ringworld :All in all, what with the enjoyably bookish storyline, the evocative backgrounds, the large game size and so on, Ringworld is very entertaining. Er... and that's about it. It's no ground breaker, sure, but it draws you in and makes you forget to go to bed. In fact the only thing that forces you go to bed is when you hit one of its many bugs and get hurled savagely back into DOS. Zool :It's refreshing to sec games of this type appear on the PC every now and again, especially when they are of this quality. There have been some pretty ropey platform games in the past, but Zool is one of the new breed, and proves very successfully that you don't need a console to play them. Archer Maclean's Pool :Archer Maclean's Pool is easily as good as Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker, given the variety it's probably better. It's not a perfect sim. One day there'll be a virtual reality pool game where you are distracted by fag ash and pools of lager on the table and some six foot five skinhead threatening to beat you up if you're not off in 30 seconds. However for now Pool is immensely playable, challenging and gets better as you get better. So should you buy it? If you haven't got Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker then yes, definitely. However if you have got Snooker then think carefully. If you liked Rugby would you buy the Rugby League and Rugby Union versions of the same game? Well yes you probably would wouldn't you. Battle Chess 4000 :Electronic Arts have put in many more 'serious' chess features than were in the earlier Battlechess programs. This makes Battlechess 4000 the ideal program to wean arcade players from mindless violence to pure, cerebral aggression. I imagine that people simply wanting to learn the game would go for something like Chessmaster. They'd be missing a lot of fun, though. Xenobots :If I felt so inclined, I could actually operate any of the machines in the field directly and control them manually, but my best bet was always to take an overall strategic view and do my thinking from the operations room where I could keep an eye on everything - unless my direct control was vital. Early on in the war, this was quite challenging as I learned to use the auto programs that drive each 'bot, but even though I was assigned to more difficult battles as I gained experience, I found that I quickly tired of the whole campaign. :I know all you young hopefuls are champing at the bit to get out there, and I can recommend the experience, but to be honest you may find yourself opting for early retirement. All the best to you anyway. Tally Ho! Spear of Destiny :I loved Wolfenstein and I like this. But I have a higher duty to the reader, to the truth and to my haggard white-haired confessor. iD programmers have moved from the world of shareware. They are in the long grass where the big dogs go and I think they're lost. One or two years ago this game would have an impact like... like... well, like Wolfenstein. But now we have games like Ultima Underworld II which makes Spear of Destiny look dated. :This isn't a 3D virtual reality game like Ultima Underworld II. There is no interaction with the other characters apart from shooting them. Indeed, a shoot 'em-up is what Spear of Destiny is. Think of it as 3D Pacman from inside the maze and you've got it about right. Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space :In brief: Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space is a user-friendly strategy game that simulates one of the most exciting human endeavours this century. Certainly more exciting than building a railway. The game also has a high degree of realism - you don't have to colonise planets or anything. Veil of Darkness :The SSI designers have done an excellent job with Veil, giving you scope to choose your own style of play, whether that leans more to the role playing or the adventure side of things (it favours the RPG side, as the combat sequences are not advanced). But don't make it too easy for yourself, it's addictive but there are not a lot of puzzles to solve and you could be putting Veil back in its coffin before many nights hath passed. Crystals of Arborea :It becomes very difficult to keep track of exactly where you've explored, and what areas remain uncharted, so the game quickly becomes frustrating. When you add a naff combat system, and an underdeveloped magic system, you end up with a game which isn't even going to attract the most ardent RPG players. Storm Master :Storm Master is a well designed juggling act of several good sub-games, and there is enough variety here to keep strategy fans happy for quite some time. A good buy for this money. HeroQuest :As a board game it hangs together fairly well, but as a computer game it's a completely wasted opportunity to go beyond the original concept. By way of recompense, this version does at least come with the expansion kit, Return of the Witchlord, and at this price you really can't complain. Metal Mutants :Your objective is to trundle, walk or stomp through a selection of nightmarish environments populated by a selection of nightmarish creatures and basically bump them off in the most efficient fashion you can. What this really boils down to is working out which of your three robot types is best suited to the job of dispatching each type of enemy creature. Before you get too excited I ought to warn you that it sounds a lot more scintillating than it actually is. In fact the only thing that scintillates in this game is the gleaming bodywork of the robots. The rest, I'm sorry to say, is as dull as ditchwater. Blade Warrior :At the heart of this game is a very clever graphical idea. Instead of having the normal brightly coloured sprites for this sideways scrolling hack 'em-up, the designer, Jason Kingsley, rendered all of the scenery and the main characters as silhouettes. The result looks very striking indeed, even though it's all rendered in just 16 colours. So far so good, unfortunately Mr Kingsley neglected to include any gameplay, so once you've spent five seconds admiring the graphics there's nothing left to do but put it back in the box and play something else instead. If you do decide to persevere (and I really admire you for your patience), you'll find a lacklustre game involving a lot of poorly designed combat and some trading with wizards, followed by yet more poorly designed combat. Troubleshooter (Tips) The Hackmasters - 2 pages (91-92) Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds - Solution: Part 1 - 5 pages (93-97) Dune II: The Battle for Arrakis - Guide - Andy Butcher - 1⅓ pages (98-99) Regulars dir.ectory - 2 pages (3-4) Bits & PCs - Mark Burgess - 2 pages (87-88) Off the Boards - Mark Burgess - 4 pages (101-104) :Catacomb Abyss, Catacomb Armageddon, Catacomb Apocalypse Word Processor - Letters page - 1 page (107) PC Zone Buyer's Guide - 7 pages (113-119) Mr Cursor - 1 page (122) Adverts Populous + The Promised Land, 4th & Inches, Strike Fleet (Hit Squad) - 1 page (2) International Rugby Challenge (Domark) - 1 page (5) Stunt Island (Infogrames / Disney) - 1 page (9) David Leadbetter's Golf, Formula One Grand Prix (MicroProse) - 1 page (31) Eye of the Beholder II, Monkey Island 2 (US Gold) - 1 page (123) Veil of Darkness (US Gold) - 1 page (124) Other Credits Art Editor :Duncan Hemphill Deputy Editor :Laurence Scotford Technical Editor :Mark Burgess Production Editor :Kirsty Fortune Contributors :Duncan MacDonald, David McCandless, Patrick McCarthy, Vici MacDonald (Design), Andy Clerkson, Paul Presley Publisher :Tim Ponting, Teresa Maughan Issue Index Category:Contains PC Reviews